Page 28 of Scorched

“He’s doing well. His P.T. is progressing, and he’s steadily regaining function in his arm. The therapist is hopeful he’ll get most if not all of it back.”

“Really? That’s amazing.”

“Yeah. He’s tough, too. Gets it from me.”

They chuckled.

“So, you here to pick up Briggs?”

Maggie nodded.

“You’re a brave woman. He’s been a surly bear all day.”

“He has? He seemed like himself to me.” Maybe a little preoccupied with work, but himself.

Sam smiled. “That’s because you’re you. You make him happy.”

She did?

“Don’t look so shocked.”

“Sorry. I just didn’t think I had that kind of effect on him.” She knew their relationship had changed in the last couple of weeks, but she still didn’t think she had that sort of influence over him.

“Well, you do. I just wish you’d shown up earlier. He was barking orders at us all day and growling anytime one of us walked into his office and interrupted him.”

“He was? Hmm. I’ll have a talk with him and see what that was all about.”

Sam waved a hand. “You don’t need to. He’s probably just pissed he can’t take part the way he usually does. He went on runs with us today, but only in a supervisory capacity. A couple times, he started walking toward the scene to help, then realize he couldn’t, and would plant his feet and scowl.”

Maggie giggled. “It’s been hard on him.”

“That’s for sure. And I know how he feels. Sitting at home, waiting on the concussion symptoms to go away was torture.”

She opened her mouth to reply when her phone rang. “Sorry. Hang on a second.” She looked at the screen, frowning when she saw Tara’s face. “It’s my sister. I need to take this.”

He nodded. “Tell her I said hello.”

Maggie nodded, swiping her thumb across the screen as she walked away. “Hello?” She headed down the hallway to go outside for privacy.

“Where are you?”

“At the fire station, picking up Declan. Sam Reeves says hello. Why, what’s up?”

“Oh, hello to him too. And good! Can you run to the grocery and pick up some things for me? I’m at London’s, and we’re working on cake flavors. She ran out of a few items.”

London ran out of stuff to bake with? That didn’t seem possible. She always had plenty of those items on hand. “How much cake did you make?”

Tara cleared her throat. “Probably more than we should have. But I couldn’t decide!” she rushed to clarify. “I’m still on the fence, and I keep thinking of other flavors… Why does this have to be so hard?”

Maggie laughed. “Because you want it all to be perfect. And it will be. Not because you have the perfect flavor of cake, but because you’re marrying a great guy. That’s all that matters.”

Tara sighed. “I know. But I still want a kick-ass cake. So, can you bring me what we need or not?”

“Yes. Just text me what you need. We’ll be over in a little while. I ordered pizza, and we have to stop and get it too.”

“Sounds good. Thank you!”

“Yep. There better be samples for my trouble.”

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